The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse
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Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse · Jan 2002
The prevalence and clinical course of sedative-hypnotic abuse and dependence in a large cohort.
Relatively little is known about the prevalence and clinical characteristics of dependence on sedative-hypnotics, and almost nothing has been published regarding abuse. This report relates information on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IIIR) sedative-hypnotic use disorders among subjects from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA). A standardized interview was used to generate data on 407 men and women in Group 1 with sedative-hypnotic dependence (4.4% of the COGA sample), 34 in Group 2 with abuse (0.4%), and 3,426 comparison subjects in Group 3 with alcohol dependence in the absence of a sedative-hypnotic use disorder (36.7%). ⋯ Subjects in Groups 1 and 2 were also more likely to have histories of independent major depressive and panic disorders, as well as substance-induced mood disorders. Those with dependence, compared to abuse, were likely to be women, reported staying intoxicated for a day or more, but noted less abuse of opioids or amphetamines, although Group 2 members also had high rates of difficulties with sedative-hypnotics. These results highlight notable rates of sedative-hypnotic dependence in the COGA families, and indicate that while sedative-hypnotic abuse does occur, and while the clinical course can involve relatively serious problems, it is less common than dependence.
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Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse · Jan 2002
Substance use among emergency room patients: an exploratory analysis by ethnicity and acculturation.
While substantial literature exists on the role of alcohol in injury occurrence, little is known about other substance use or abuse and injury, or drug use among the alcohol involved at the time of the emergency room (ER) visit. ⋯ Data suggest that ethnic differences in substance use becomes less important among those alcohol involved, and future research should focus on the interaction of alcohol and other substances on injury occurrence. Data also suggest that substance use associated with increasing acculturation among U.S. Hispanics may have a strong impact on health services utilization, and research is needed by gender, ethnicity, and acculturation to determine the burden that substance use places on the ER.